Bullying and Cyber Safety
Bullying is the “repeated oppression, psychological or physical of a less powerful person by a more powerful person or group of persons” (Rigby, 1996).
Bullying is when someone gains power over another person by hurting or harming that person, more than just once. Bullying is intentional, and involves an imbalance of power. Bullying is continuing to ‘pick on’ someone, torment, them or exclude them, so that the person feels helpless. Cyber bullying is another form of bullying using technology, such as a computer or mobile phone via text messaging, MSM, social networking, photographs, and web pages.
A Bystander is a person who witnesses a bullying incident as an onlooker. At Mary Immaculate School, we agree that, if you are a bystander who encourages bullying behaviours, or if you witness bullying and do not report the incident, your behaviour is considered to be bullying.
Bullying may include:
- Physical: hitting, kicking, any form of violence, threat or intimidation that could cause physical harm
- Verbal: name calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, persistent teasing, intimidation, lying about someone
- Emotional: excluding, tormenting, ridiculing, humiliating, intimidating
- Racist: taunts, graffiti, gestures, intimidation
- Sexual: unwanted physical contact, abusive comments, intimidation
- Cyber: unwanted text messages, emails, information technology, intimidation
View our Student Protection Policies